Blue Jackets 6, Avalanche 1

Associated Press

DENVER (AP) - Rick Nash tied his career high with four points, Kristian Huselius scored twice and Steve Mason won his fourth straight despite having his shutout streak halted at three games, as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat Colorado 6-1 on Friday night.

Mason's franchise-record shutout string was snapped by Darcy Tucker's goal late in the first period. Mason went 199 minutes, 19 seconds between goals allowed.

The 20-year-old rookie finished with 23 saves. He's given up two goals or fewer in 10 of his past 11 starts.

Nash converted a penalty shot as part of a three-goal second period, lifting Columbus to its second straight win at Pepsi Center this season. The Blue Jackets were 1-12-1 in Denver before this season.

Mike Commodore and Jakub Voracek sealed the win by scoring a minute apart early in the third period. Commodore's goal came off an assist from Nash, one of three he had on the night.

R.J. Umberger also added a goal late in the game as the Blue Jackets tied a season high with six goals.

Nash scored the Blue Jackets' first penalty shot goal of the season as he beat Peter Budaj to his stick side. Nash was awarded the shot after being hooked from behind by Brett Clark as he skated in on a breakaway at the 12:33 mark of the second period.

He has 17 goals this season.

Huselius had his first multi-goal game of the season, scoring both times on pinpoint passes from Nash. After being held pointless for five games in mid-December, Huselius has three goals and three assists over his past eight games.

Mason was selected as the NHL's Rookie of the Month on Friday after posting a 7-5 record in December with a 1.41 goals-against average.

It's the second straight month he's earned the honor. Mason started the season in the minor leagues to give him time to recover from arthroscopic knee surgery he had in September.

Tucker took a cross-ice pass from Ian Laperriere and put it out of Mason's reach at the 17:20 mark of the first period.

Mason stopped everything after Tucker's fifth goal of the season.

The Avalanche seems to exalt in stopping shutout streaks, as the club snapped Vancouver's Roberto Luongo's string of three in a row earlier this season.

Notes: The Blue Jackets play in St. Louis on Saturday night. They're 39-73-16 in the second game of back-to-backs in their history. ... Avalanche D Adam Foote played two and a half seasons for Columbus, serving as team captain. ... Chris Stewart and Jared Boll exchanged punches 75 seconds into the game, each drawing a 5-minute penalty for fighting.